Posts Tagged ‘quality of life’

Back To Health Chiropractic Centre In Maple, Vaughan to teach a comprehensive nutrition workshop module in the January 2013.

Maple, ON – It’s not surprising that many diseases are linked to bad diets and eating habits. Yet, many degenerative conditions and diseases, like cancer, heart disease and diabetes can be prevented simply by following a healthy nutritional plan and with good eating habits. Back To Health Chiropractic Centre will be teaching a 4 part Nutrition Workshop Module in January. This is a free workshop series for all patients of Back To Health Chiropractic Centre and non-patient guests as well.

“A balanced diet with foods high in nutritional value is an essential pillar to optimal health and well-being”, says Dr. Walter Salubro, family chiropractor at Back To Health Chiropractic Centre. “Too many people are stuck eating processed foods, fast foods, junk foods and a workshop series such as this one gives people a solid foundation to making simple, yet effective changes in their food intake and eating habits. The result is better health, better weight management and an overall higher quality of life.”

If you are looking to make changes in your diet, improve your eating habits and start choosing healthier foods, go check out the Nutrition Workshop Module at Back To Health Chiropractic Centre, which starts January 9, 2013.

Did you hear? Fox News reported about a man who suffered a heart attack while dining at a popular Las Vegas restaurant and the restaurant is called Heart Attack Grill.

Irony, you call it? Coincidence? Or was it a series of choices that led to an impactful wake-up call for this man? Luckily the paramedics arrived in time to help this man and reports say he is alive.

More then likely this wasn’t due to a one-time meal at a high-calorie restaurant but due to a series of choices that culminated in a traumatic and life-threatening incident.

At our clinic, Back To Health Chiropractic Centre, we teach about choices at our wellness workshops and lectures. I tell our patients that the choices you make today in life will shape your future. And if you want to live a life of your dreams and vision, the choices you make today absolutely matter. So you owe it to yourself to make the right choices for your health and your well-being, not just for now but for the rest of your life.

Maple (Vaughan), Ontario – It is common for people to seek treatment from chiropractors for low back pain, neck pain, headaches or even injuries from work and car accidents. These are conditions that are mostly seen in adults. Since a child will not typically complain of low back pain, neck pain or headaches, the parents may never see a reason to get their child checked by a chiropractor for a well exam or a spinal / posture check-up. However, regardless of any pain or symptom, a child may have spinal misalignments or posture displacements that could be putting strain on their nervous system. Since the nervous system controls and co-ordinates every function of the body, it’s imperative that the nervous system remains as stress-free as possible for optimal health, optimal growth and optimal body function.

Consider this … spinal misalignments can occur at any time throughout the child’s growth, development and life.

Here are the 10 top reasons for your child to have a chiropractic check-up:

“frequent headaches.” “severe back ache.” “constant migraines.” “constant pain on a daily basis.” “always in pain and discomfort”. “strong neck and back pain.” “powerful migraines.” “always feeling exhausted.” “a lot of pain and stress in the back of my neck” “tired and had little energy” “problems sleeping” “at times unable to move”

These are the words that patients have used to describe their pain or how they were feeling before they started chiropractic care at Back To Health Chiropractic Centre. Can you relate to any of these people’s conditions? Have you ever experienced any of them yourself? Read on…

“Vision. Commitment. Choices.” If you were to ask me, “Dr. Walter, how can I make a lasting change with my health and well-being?”, I would answer with those three words – “Vision. Commitment. Choices.” Read on …

Vision – know what you want and why?

Commitment – commit yourself to do whatever it takes to achieve your vision.

Choices – once committed, make the choices that are aligned with your life vision.

A couple a years ago I ran my first marathon in Toronto. The day before the race I went pick up my race packet at the expo and I was looking at some pictures of past marathon runners. I was impressed to see a picture of a 90 year old man running that exact same marathon. Yes! 90 years old and he ran a 42.2 km distance. Imagine that. It was thrilling to know that he accomplished it. That’s when I said, “One day, when I’m 90 years old, I shall do the same and run a marathon.” This is my vision.

At that instant when I made that declaration, my mind started racing. I started asking questions like, “What do I have to start doing today to help me reach 90 years of age and be physically fit to run a marathon?” My choices instantly became clear. Exercise and run regularly. Eat wholesome nutritious foods. Keep an ideal body weight. I realized that I would have to start make choices today consistent with my vision to accomplish that dream. I also realized follow-through, that is commitment at every step of the way, would be essential.

Last week, I was giving recommendations for care to a patient. I knew she had a busy schedule and that she was coming to our office from a distance away. When I asked her, “Are you able to make the recommended 3 times per week?” She answered succinctly, “I will make it work”. That is what I mean about commitment. I knew in that instance that this patient was willing to do whatever it takes to get healthy and stay healthy.

Let me ask you, what is your vision and what is the ‘why’ behind your vision? Are your prepared to commit yourself and do whatever it takes? How will you choose in the face of tempting and conflicting options?

When it comes to your health, your relationships, your family, your job, or whatever else is of value to you create a clear vision of how you want it to look. Commit yourself to achieving it and choose in the direction of your vision.

Check out Back To Health Chiropractic Centre’stestimonial page. Patients share their chiropractic success stories. Keep coming back as this page will be updated regularly. You will see that chiropractic care is more then just treatment for pain relief. People’s lives change for the better on many levels.

Are school-aged children getting healthier or sicker? I came across a Statistic Canada survey that helped shed some light on this question. The results of this survey were quite revealing. I’ll review some of the findings here, but first let me share this story with you.

This week in our chiropractic wellness clinic, I had a conversation with a patient who is a grade 8 teacher. I was particularly curious of the prevalence of children in his class with learning disabilities. This is what I learned …

The teacher said that 1 in 5 (20%) students in his class have been diagnosed with a learning disability, such as ADD or ADHD. He also said that a lot of learning disabilities go unreported, so the prevalence is likely higher. And, that this is fairly common in most classrooms at his school.

Statistic Canada, in a 2006 study entitled “Participiation and Activity Limitation Survey”, reported that there is a increase in disabilities amongst children aged 14 and under. The findings showed that amongst children aged 14 and under, about 202,350 (3.7%) reported a disability of some kind in 2006. This is up from 2001 which was at 3.1%.

In this group, 69.8% of children aged 4 and under had a disability related to a chronic health condition – the most common health conditions reported were asthma, severe allergies, attention deficit disorder, and autism.

For children aged 5 to 14, the study reported that 66.6% of these children had chronic health conditions. Learning disabilities affected 69.3% of children in this age group.

Overall, there was a large increase in learning disabilities from 2001 to 2006 for both children and adults.

At Back To Health Chiropractic Centre, our our vision is family health and wellness … which means our vision is for families in our community to be fully healthy, happy and flourishing. To our Back To Health Chiropractic team, healthy families does not mean just mom or dad on the wellness path. Family health especially includes children living to their full human potential.

“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” 1

Unfortunately, many children are not living in a “complete physical, mental and social well-being” as the learning disability prevalence is increasing.

So if health means “complete physical, mental and social well-being”, how are we doing when chronic health conditions and learning disabilities are increasing in the school-aged population?

In our chiropractic wellness clinic, we care for children that present with chronic health conditions and learning disabilities. Although most adults come into our clinic with pain complaints of some sort (like headaches, back pain, neck pain), most children in our clinic don’t present with pain conditions. They present with health conditions such as asthma, allergies, bed-wetting, digestive problems, ADD/ADHD and autism. I have seen chiropractic be helpful for children with these types of health conditions. However, chiropractic is not a treatment for any of these health conditions.

A chiropractor assesses the spine to find spinal misalignments (subluxations). Why is this important? Because spinal misalignments can alter the quality and quantity of nerve input to and from the brain. Altered nerve input to and from the brain can cause problems to the body. To correct a spinal misalignment, the chiropractor delivers a specific scientific chiropractic adjustment, which removes interference on the nervous system and improves the nerve input to and from the brain. Now, the body is in a position to function and heal optimally because all healing and body function is controlled by the brain. This is why chiropractors will see many people, adults and children alike, respond positively to a variety to different health conditions.

So can chiropractic help children with learning disabilities? Let’s look at this study…

In a 2007 literature review study by Dr. Yannick Pauli, published in the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research (JVSR), Dr. Pauli suggested that although more research is necessary in this area, chiropractic care may have a positive role in individuals suffering from learning disabilities and dyslexia.2 A lot has to do with restoring function to the child’s nervous system by correcting vertebral subluxations (spinal misalignments).

Chiropractic care for children is safe and effective. Ask your family wellness chiropractor how chiropractic can be of benefit to you and your family.

Stress while you’re sleeping? Is that even possible? North Americans get on average, 6-8 hours of sleep each night. And of the most common health complaints I hear from my patients is that they wake up in the morning with a stiff neck or a low back ache after going to sleep the night before feeling totally fine. How does that happen? How you sleep, more specifically, your sleeping posture has a lot to do with how well you sleep at night and how well you wake up in the morning. Considering that you may spend up to one third of your day sleeping, it makes perfect sense to pay extra attention on your sleeping position and improve it if necessary.

Some of the most common questions I get from patients when they start chiropractic care at our clinic is: 1. What position is best to sleep in? 2. What kind of pillow should I use? 3. What kind of mattress should I buy? All these questions will be addressed in this article. But first …

Let me talk about habit. Human beings are creatures of habit … which means once you do something in a certain way it’s hard to change the way you do it. It takes awareness and energy and willingness to change a habit. This is true for sleeping habits or sleeping positions. Some of my chiropractic patients tell me they sleep on their stomach. This is not the best position to sleep in. In fact, this position can cause a lot of stress on your neck muscles, joints, and nerves because your neck is usually turned to one side and bent sideways when you sleep on your stomach.

So what is the best position to sleep without causing much strain or stress on your neck or back? The side position and flat on your back are the two best positions to sleep in. Sleeping one your side or on your back keeps your spine in a neutral position. What’s important is to use a pillow that is not too shallow and not too big and fluffy. While on your side, the pillow should take up enough space between your ear and the mattress to keep your head straight on its side. On your back, the pillow should support the natural ‘C’ shape curve of your neck. A good orthopedic pillow can help accommodate this. Many chiropractors recommend orthopedic pillows to their patients. Orthopedic pillows are specially designed to keep your neck in its optimal natural position whether you sleep on your side or on your back.

A couple of more sleeping tips…

While on your side, you can place a small pillow between your knees. This helps relieve tension or strain in your lower back. The same can be accomplished while sleeping on your back by placing a pillow under you knees. This is especially helpful when suffering of low back pain

Now for the mattress …There are many forms to choose from which can sometimes be confusing. The simplest advice I give to my patients is to sleep on a mattress that is not very soft and not too hard either. You want it to be firm enough however that it will protect your spine whether you are sleeping on your side or on your back.

One of the most common benefits I hear from patients receiving chiropractic care is that their sleeping is improved. When you wake up in the morning, you should feel restful, relaxed, regenerated and pain free. Keeping some of these sleeping tips can help you accomplish this regularly. Get into the habit of protecting your spine even while you sleep with proper sleeping positions.